powerful students, powerful words: writing and learning in a poetry workshop

Powerful students, powerful words: writingand learning in a poetry workshopAngela Wiseman

Abstract

A poetry workshop can present opportunities tointegrate students’ knowledge and perspectives inclassroom contexts, encouraging the use of languagefor expression, communication, learning and evenempowerment. This paper describes how adolescentstudents respond to a poetry workshop in an Englishclassroom centred on teaching writing that is based ontheir knowledge from their various life experiencesand understanding of events beyond the classroom.Informed by New Literacy Studies and third spacetheories, ethnographic methods of participant observa-tion were used to document an eighth-grade urbanpublic school classroom where a community memberimplemented a weekly programme using music lyricsand poetry for an entire school year. Findings illustratehow the poetry workshop encouraged students tocontribute to the classroom learning context andengage critically with ideas that were relevant to theirlives. Collaborating with a community member andtapping in to the powerful ways of using language tocommunicate led to important learning opportunitiesfor students in this classroom. Poetic devices such asrhyme, rhythm, metaphor and wordplay enhancedand supported students’ own language practices;students used these sophisticated writing strategiesas they worked to convey their ideas, experiences andopinions.

Key words: poetry, writing, New Literacy Studies,Urban Education, third space theory, adolescents

As the focus of efforts to improve student achievementare often fixated on assessing and measuring learningthrough standardised tests, many students strugglewith a narrowly defined literacy curriculum that isquite different from how students use literacy in theirown lives (Schultz, 2002; Street, 2003). As a result,youth often feel disconnected from literacy instructionand therefore do not engage in reading and writingdone in the classroom (Franzak, 2008). This margin-alisation can occur because different language prac-tices and ways of knowing are not incorporated intoformal classroom learning (Nieto, 2008). This isparticularly the case for students who experience adisconnect between their home and school culture andmore often than not, find themselves in school settingsthat encourage narrow language practices and limitedlearning opportunities (McIntyre et al., 2001). School-sanctioned literacy often excludes students’ experi-

ences based on language, culture or identity (Hatt,2007), which is one reason why students are increas-ingly citing activities outside of school as having astronger impact on their learning than in-school events(Gee, 2000).

Poetry writing in the classroom has the potential toencourage complex engagement and integrate knowl-edge that results from various life experiences since itinvolves creative language and multiple perspectives(Jocson, 2006; Morrell, 2002; Wiseman, 2007). Whenstudents are provided with opportunities to writeabout topics that resonate with them and use their ownways of thinking about the world, their educationalexperiences and literacy learning are enhanced(Lewison and Heffernan, 2008; Staples, 2008). Poetrycan provide a way for students to communicate topicsthat bridge their personal knowledge with the schoolcurriculum through metaphor, imagery and creativeexpression. Furthermore, poetry can incorporate theunderstanding that comes from being engaged inmultiple contexts, cultures and identities, where boththe students and teacher contribute to the curriculumand communicate their learning. The purpose of thisarticle is to consider the ways that students writepoetry to develop and reflect their deeper under-standing about themselves and the world whilebuilding on ways of expressing and synthesisingknowledge in the classroom. My guiding researchquestion is: how do students participate in a classroompoetry workshop led by a community member thatbuilds on their experiences and knowledge in variouscontexts?

Related research

This study is grounded in New Literacy Studies whichestablish that knowledge is socially constructed in adialogic manner, literacy practices are socially andhistorically situated (Street, 2003) and they aregrounded in the actions of everyday lived experiences(Barton et al., 2000). Gee (2008) described the discourseof language as the way that we incorporate ourunderstanding of the world that often reflects‘‘negotiation, contestation, and ‘hybridity’’’ (p. 182).Learning is an active process that entails more thanmoving from one skill to the next; it also involvesdeveloping conceptual understanding by connecting

70 Powerful students, powerful words

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Literacy

prior knowledge with new ideas to build and extendoverall knowledge.

Learning that occurs in the classroom is affected byexperiences that occur from participation in multiplecontexts, such as home, school, sports, church or peergroups. Gutierrez (2008) uses the term sociocriticalliteracy, which constitutes how classroom practices canbuild on students’ knowledge from their variousexperiences and perspectives for critical interactionand engagement, to describe learning opportunitiesthat encourage what she refers to as ‘‘critical socialthought’’. Critical social thought can result fromnegotiating different meanings and evaluating com-peting perspectives to develop ways of thinking orunderstanding. Because classrooms have ‘‘multiplelayered and conflicting activity systems’’ (Gutierrez,2008, p. 152), expansive learning occurs as studentsmove within and among their social contexts and areable to build on their experiences from multiplesources. It is this complexity of meaning-making thatprovides an important catalyst for literacy learning;when students can relate new information to topicsthat are meaningful to them, their literacy practicessupport the process of communicating, describing andmaking sense of the world. Re-envisioning the curri-culum to include student experiences involves a shiftin power, which requires that literacy be defined,taught and understood so that all students cancontribute in the classroom.

Historically, many studies have contributed to ourunderstanding of students’ knowledge that resultsfrom participation in various contexts, such as Heath’sWays with Words (1983) which provides a rich descrip-tion of how the larger socio-cultural context thatincludes literate events from children’s everyday livesaffects students’ language practices. In addition, theconcept of ‘funds of knowledge’ (Gonzalez et al., 2005;Moll, 2000; Moll et al., 1992) came from a project whereteachers and researchers utilised talents and abilities ofthose in the community by having them teach skillsthey used at home or work as part of the schoolcurriculum. In both of these studies, it was significantto recognise how literacy practices outside the class-room affect learning opportunities that are bothengaging and supportive of students’ literacy needswithin school.

More recently, third space and hybridity have beenused to describe how integrating different ways ofknowing can support classroom connections to chil-dren’s literacy experiences, including how experiencesoutside school influence their attitudes about literacy.While third space theories were originally proposed byBhabha (1994) to explain how hybrid identities arecreated in a space where multiple cultures meet, theconcept of third space has important implications forclassroom learning. Moje et al. (2004) use third spacetheory to understand how learning opportunities areenhanced when they merge the first space of the

literacies and knowledge of people’s home, commu-nity and peer networks with the second space ofliteracy and knowledge of more formal institutionssuch as schools and churches. Building on the conceptof funds of knowledge (Gonzalez et al., 2005), theirstudy presents the funds of knowledge and discoursesused to integrate out-of-school and in-school literacieswith content area knowledge. When knowledge isconstructed from these different, sometimes compet-ing spaces, students might: create new ways ofcomprehending, work against certain forms of knowl-edge and integrate ideas from the different ‘spaces’ touse as resources. Understanding hybridity and thirdspace theory can support classroom connections tochildren’s home literacy experiences, including howtheir hybrid identities affect their attitudes aboutliteracy (Levy, 2008).

The literary form of poetry can encourage critical socialthought and facilitate these ideas of third space andhybridity, with ‘‘transformative space[s] where thepotential for an expanded form of learning and thedevelopment of new knowledge are heightened’’(Gutierrez, 2008, p. 152). An example of this is Morrelland Duncan-Andrade’s (2002) development of acurriculum where students learned critical essaywriting as well as literary terms by analysing familiarhip-hop poetry alongside what can be considered‘traditional’ English poetry. Using hip-hop, whichstudents identified as a familiar poetic form, as a basisfor analysis and understanding other more traditionalpoems encouraged students to use a familiar genre todevelop their analytic thinking skills and build on theirknowledge of writing and literature.

Using a workshop approach where students exploreself-selected topics while channelling the creative anddescriptive genre of poetry has also been a way tointegrate hybrid knowledge and perspectives thatcome from participation in various contexts and createa space within the classroom to integrate knowledgefrom participation in various contexts. While conduct-ing a poetry workshop with high school students,Kinloch (2005) described how honest and meaningfulpoetry is written from students’ experiences andviewpoints and how the workshop approach providesimportant teaching and learning opportunitiesthrough social interactions in the classroom. Shereferred to these classroom interactions as DemocraticEngagements, which encourage what she describes asinteractive significations (such as speech acts and codeswitching) where students use and expand theirknowledge of language to explore and build ideaswithin the curriculum. Poetry has also been a way forstudents to reflect on their complex identities andexperiences with the world (Jocson, 2006; Wiseman,2007), as well as an opportunity for expressing howstudents feel silenced in school settings, particularlyrelated to race, gender and sexuality (Norton, 2008;Weinstein, 2007; Wissman, 2007). When studentshave various ways of acquiring and communicating

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Copyright r 2011 UKLA

knowledge in the classroom, they are able to interactwith material in ways that expand their ways oflearning and engage with topics that are relevant totheir own lives. Poetry has the potential to providestudents with opportunities that bring their knowledgefrom the margins to the front and centre of classroomlearning, encouraging the use of language for expres-sion, communication, learning and even empowerment.

Description of the study

The study takes place in an eighth-grade Englishclassroom in the United States at an urban middleschool that has 19 African-American students, twoHispanic students and one Asian-American student;nine males and 13 females. The school is located in ahistorically African-American neighbourhood in alarge metropolitan East Coast city. Pamela (all namesand locations have been changed in this article), theEnglish teacher who was in her third year of teaching,designed projects and lessons that built on students’experiences outside of the classroom while integratingopportunities to engage with different people andexperiences within their community. English instruc-tion in Pamela’s classroom was a balance of skillsinstruction and what she described as ‘service-basedprojects’, where students would engage in projects inthe community that foster learning while also devel-oping awareness and understanding to improve theneighbourhood.

Pamela invited Theo, an African-American commu-nity member who worked at a nearby non-profitorganisation that provided food and services tohomeless and low-income families, to teach poetryonce a week in her classroom. Theo was the youthdirector and also organised a poetry and lyric writingclub for high school students at his communityorganisation; he worked in different contexts topromote poetry for youth in the area and also readand recorded his own poetry and lyrics for perfor-mances. This was the second year that Theo partici-pated in this classroom by teaching weekly poetrywriting workshops. Theo had relationships with manystudents in the classroom from his community work; inaddition, his involvement in this school fostered newrelationships with other students who began to attendprogrammes at the non-profit agency.

Theo’s poetry workshops lasted approximately 45minutes and took place once a week. Music was oftenthe catalyst for introducing a theme or lesson andprovided a model for writing; Theo selected songs orpoems from a variety of genres that he felt conveyed animportant message. The criteria for poetry writing inthis workshop consisted of three main points; studentsshould: (1) draw upon their own experiences to comeup with writing topics; (2) use creative language toexpress their thoughts and ideas; and (3) write and

revise their work to be precise and concise usingminimal language for the maximum potential. Lessonsintroduced various styles, themes and language formsusing a model piece that acted as a springboard forideas and could serve as a way for students to organisetheir own poetry. Students were encouraged to analysethe writing presented and then they could eitherchoose to use the example and craft a similar format ortheme or elect to write about a different topic or format.Furthermore, using brief minilessons and individualconferences, Theo encouraged students to focus onmetaphorical language and create strong visualimages. As they began writing, students were free tomove around and work with fellow classmates. At theend of each poetry workshop, students had time toshare their poetry with the class and students wereencouraged to provide feedback, read their poetry andcommunicate ideas to each other.

An evening poetry coffeehouse was scheduledbimonthly at the school where students, parents andcommunity members wrote and performed poetrytogether. The end product from the workshops andcoffeehouses was an anthology, which was bound at alocal print shop with contributions from students,teachers, parents and community members. Copies ofthe anthology were given to all students and theirfamilies.

Data collection

This study employed qualitative research methodsthat involved data collection and analysis to create aholistic picture of this learning context. What you arereading here is part of a larger study that focused onmany aspects of the poetry programme, includingfamily participation and collaboration with commu-nity members.

During this study, ethnographic techniques of partici-pant observation and descriptive analysis (Creswell,2008) were applied to the classroom setting as Igathered data throughout a full school year. Data werecollected from September to May and involvedobservations on average twice a week, both weeklypoetry workshops and regular English lessons. Inaddition, I held four focus group sessions (Krueger andCasey, 2009) with a group of five students who wereidentified by the teacher as representative of studentsin this classroom based on race, ethnicity, academicsuccess and interest in poetry. Four group interviewswere also held with other students who were inter-ested in talking with me about their poetry and theirexperiences in the workshop. Data were generatedfrom three sources: (1) classroom observations andinteractions that were recorded through field notes andaudio recording; (2) student writing; and (3) individualor small group interviews and discussions that wereaudio recorded. Classroom lessons, focus groups and



interviews were audiotaped and transcribed in orderto be analysed.

Data analysis

To determine how students’ knowledge was reflectedin their poetry, I began by analysing and coding topicsthat emerged from their writing and used inductivemethods to develop categories based on their writingtopics (Corbin and Strauss, 2008). There were fourthemes that emerged from this analysis; students’poetry fell into the categories of families, personalidentity, faith/religion and community or currentevents. Ensuring for trustworthiness through credibil-ity, transferability, dependability and confirmabilitywas an important consideration of my research design(Merriam, 2009). By having prolonged involvement inthe classroom, collaboration with research participantsand varied types of data, I ensured credibility. Theresearch was transferable through thick descriptionand understanding of the context (Merriam, 2009) anddependable through regular observations and using avariety of methods that overlapped. The data wereconfirmed using methods of triangulation (Mills,2003); while the poems were the focus of analysis, Ialso juxtaposed comments from focus groups, groupinterviews and classroom observations to providefurther insight.

Learning from poetry

In this classroom, poetry created a space for meaning-making and self-reflection in the English curriculum,providing ways for students to learn how to use theirpoetry while engaging critically with ideas andconcepts that were relevant to them. In the nextsection, I will describe how students were able to usetheir poetry to consider different perspectives, reflectand communicate strengths, and demonstrate areas ofstrength and topics that need further development.

A different learning approach: ‘‘This curriculum isdifferent; we don’t just go by the book’’

Students were encouraged to consider multiple per-spectives and interpretations during the poetry lessonswhile focusing on complex ways of expressing theirfeelings and ideas. They described the workshop as‘‘different than their other classes because Theo andPamela care about what we think’’, and that ‘‘we canwrite what we want rather than other classes withteachers that just go by the book’’. Over the year, poetryworkshop topics focused on developing and reflectingstudents’ identities and encouraged students to ques-tion their assumptions about the way they viewed theirworld. For instance, Theo taught one lesson on theconcept of ‘Miseducation’ and focused on howinformation can be portrayed or presented incorrectly,

particularly related to history and life lessons. Heconnected Lauryn Hill’s (1998, track 14) song Mis-education to Carter G. Woodson’s book The Miseducationof the Negro (Woodson, 1933/2000) and discussed how:

‘‘Miseducation could be something you were taught thatyou weren’t taught the full scope of it, it could besomething you thought was true and you were led tothink one thing when it was actually another. Miseduca-tion could come from media images. It could be a kid thatjust stays on the block and doesn’t see what this city has tooffer and so they get in their mind that what they have todo is be on that block . . . It can be intentional, it can beunintentional. It can deal with your mind; it can dealwith your body’’.

As Theo instructed students to question and considerideas in the workshop, he built on his experiences as anAfrican-American male, father and community mem-ber to extend and challenge students’ writing. In focusgroups, students explained that they appreciated howthey had opportunities in the classroom to considertheir own racial identities as well as their personalknowledge experiences. Topics were open-ended;Theo repeated in many lessons that ‘‘there is no rightor wrong’’ and wrote in a handout that ‘‘there is nowrong way to finish each story beginning’’ and in focusgroups, students explained to me that they, ‘‘like thatthere is no right or wrong and that it is less structuredthan other classroom lessons’’.

Vanessa was a student who often used her poetry as aplatform for communicating ideas that she was notable to convey by speaking directly with others. In agroup interview, she explained that, ‘‘It [poetry] helpsbecause some things you can’t say aloud to certainpeople, you can write it down in a poem. So, it helpsyou, too – getting problems off your back’’. Forexample, in the excerpt from this poem that waswritten in response to the Miseducation lesson, sheaddresses how she feels pressure from goals anddecisions placed upon her:

‘‘The stereotypes are running my lifeBringing much confusion or strifeI’m stuck in a world where image is everythingIf you don’t have the items then you’re an item ofinferiorityIt’s hard to be a child in this material worldAdults setting so many goals its outta controlThey want you to be what they could notAnd get an education with the power of loveI’ve haven’t forgotBut the pressure isn’t helping us at allIn fact the pressure is making us fall’’.

Vanessa was one of many students who saw her poetryas a way to take action and convey what she wanted inthe world. Her writing was passionate and complex; inthe poem she uses two main poetic conventions that



emphasise her ideas. First, she relies on repetition ofselected words, such as item and pressure, which drawattention to important concepts of her poem. Herrepetition and use of the word item in the line, ‘‘If youdon’t have the items then you’re an item of inferiority’’demonstrates how she used multiple meanings of theterm to express her feelings about an overemphasis onmaterialistic and superficial things. Vanessa employssophisticated word choices to describe how people canbe disregarded or judged based on their materialbelongings (hence they become ‘items’). In addition,her use of rhyme and rhythm in the first and last twolines of the poem created a parallel structure within theintroduction and conclusion of her poem, a strategythat drew attention to the beginning and ending,particularly when she performed her poem orally.

For Vanessa, poetry provided a way that she couldcommunicate with adults and peers about topicsrelevant to her life while poetic conventions enhancedthe way she was able to make her views known.Vanessa said that, ‘‘we are the future and we need to beheard. We could change some of these things so itwould be easier in the future. Because everybody elsewould know more about it’’. Poetry gave her oppor-tunities for expression; being able to write and thenread her work in a public forum provided her with apurpose for expressing her ideas and a community tohear her work.

Many of the students appreciated having a space toaddress topics that evoked strong emotions andfeelings within the space of the classroom. Phillipwas a student who used his creative language toexpress his emotions and consider how they affectedhis decision-making process. A poem he wroteprovides an example of how he described his feelingsas ‘powerful’ and affecting his life choices:

‘‘Feelings are powerful enough to drive people insaneThey put pressure on you in the wrong placesAnd make you do things that you wouldn’t do in othercasesAnger could make you get enragedLike a wild lion trapped in a cage’’.

Phillip’s use of the wild lion simile and the personifica-tion of the angry trapped lion demonstrate howsymbolic language can extend his ideas about emo-tions. Phillip explained that he did not express hisfeelings often in his daily life among his friends andfamily, but felt that poetry did provide a release offeelings and emotions. Explaining to me that ‘‘You canexpress your feelings through poetry’’, he valued howthe poetry workshop changed the dynamics of theclassroom because students’ ideas were valued. ‘‘It’snot like a regular class’’, he told me, ‘‘Other teachersjust go by the book. I’m encouraged here and I like toread my thoughts about the world and current events’’.Phillip was glad to have a space within school to

express his feelings and in focus groups he expressedhow poetry helped emotionally and therefore acade-mically.

Both Vanessa and Phillip used their poetry to commu-nicate and wrote with an awareness of the audiencethey read to in class and at coffeehouses. It wassignificant that they both counted on ‘being heard’ asthey composed their poetry. As students draw on theirown ways of knowing, literacy practices can merge theknowledge that students possess with literary knowl-edge that reflects complex ideas and poetic conven-tions. For these students, it is important not only tomake meaning of texts, but to also consider howlanguage works and how it can provide students witha way of expressing and acting in the world.

Strength and power: ‘‘God gives me strength’’

Some lessons in the poetry workshop specificallyencouraged students to reflect and communicate theirown strengths. For instance, Theo taught one lessonwhere he guided students to ‘‘be thankful for what yougot’’ after playing a song by the same title by WilliamdeVaughn (1972, track 1) and having them list non-materialistic items that they feel fortunate to have.Yolanda described her ability to write and reflectedhow she gradually gained confidence during thepoetry workshop. In seventh grade, she was uncom-fortable reading her poems to the class because she wasnervous to perform; however, she eventually workedup the confidence to read aloud during her eighth-grade year. When Yolanda shared and discussed herpoem with me during a poetry workshop, sheexplained that she initially doubted her writingabilities but explained that her peers had made herfeel more confident. To reflect this, Yolanda wrote:

‘‘My writing moves so fast today.I believed that I could write good poetry anyway.At first I wasn’t into poetry because I did not know what Iwas missing.Now I see that it is a great way to bring out your feeling.Now I believe if I write I can do anything because Godgave me the strength to pray.Since God gave me the strength to pray, I now believe Ican write any day’’.

In her poem, Yolanda describes how she is able tocompose quickly due to the fact that she is ‘‘able towrite good poetry’’. Using description of how her‘‘writing moves so fast today’’ she is able to contrasther past experiences with how she knows now that shecan think of and develop topics, use her poetry tocommunicate, and reflect on her own writing progress.In addition, she recognises how her belief in God gaveher strength to write and perform her pieces. Animportant aspect of learning an artistic craft, such aspoetry, is that workshops take on authentic purposes;



students are writing to perform their poetry to anaudience and publish their work in a book. Yolandawas one of many students who gained confidence asshe worked to improve her writing and then was ableto use her poetry to communicate. Providing studentswith opportunities to engage with and write abouttopics that resonate with them can connect lifeexperiences to classroom participation.

Students used their poetry to describe themselves inpowerful positions and quite often their poetryreflected their growth and understanding of them-selves as individuals. Kenny was a student who usedhis poetry to do this; he was well aware of his personalstrengths and how his choices in life affected hisopportunities and outcomes. In one poem, Kennywrote:

‘‘I’m thankful for my education and intelligenceBecause I’m drug-freeMy endurance, body, feelings and self-esteem is thewinning ticketWithout it, I will not be able to do what I doI would not be able to be what I am!’’

Using an analogy to winning the lottery with a‘winning ticket’ to describe how his choices will leadto positive results, Kenny’s poem projects a positiveself-identity and shows how he is aware of how hischoices will affect his future. It was significant thatKenny was able to articulate very concrete aspects ofhis identity that provided him with a ‘winning ticket’;as we listened to him read this we could see a youngman who was able to recognise and articulate hisstrengths. Because of the personal nature of the poetryworkshop, the topics reflected important identity workfor students.

For adolescents who are learning about how theirchoices affect their lives in many ways, many studentsexpressed to me that they needed a space within theschool curriculum to explore these ideas and that theyappreciated the opportunity to write and discuss withtheir fellow students.

Identifying needs: ‘‘what tests your faith?’’ andother unanswered questions

A theme that often emerged in students’ writing washow they maintained positive views and what theyattributed as the sources of their strength, such as theirfaith and family. Students expressed their appreciationfor people, often other family members who hadhelped them when their parents had not been able tocare for them in ways they had hoped. In one lesson,Theo played the song ‘Test of My Faith’ by Petey Pablo(2001, track 2), which describes how certain lifeexperiences have been ‘tests’ about the choices onemakes. Students’ writing demonstrated that they were

aware of many kinds of decisions and influences thatcould affect their lives in negative ways. In theirneighbourhoods, they described crack houses, drugdeals, poverty and violence; however, poetry providedan opportunity to consider positive outcomes andplaces to find strength. Their pride in various aspectsof their identities was evident, such as how they were‘‘thankful for their courage and I’m happy for havingan African-American heritage’’, and ‘‘I wake up feelingproud of myself’’. For instance, one student wrote, ‘‘Iam thankful for my mother and father because theygive me that kind of love that no one else could giveme. Not even me’’.

In the same way, using topics from students’ experi-ences can also alert teachers to specific needs andconcerns. As an extension to the ‘Test of My Faith’lesson, Theo encouraged students to consider howthey could set goals for their upcoming educationalexperiences, specifically related to how they would beleaving middle school for high school at the end of thisschool year. Theo told them, ‘‘your lives are going tochange. And those changes are going to bring stress,some of you may be looking forward to it and some ofyou may be thinking about it and totally afraid’’. Hewent on to describe that it might be difficult to makechoices about school attendance, change schools, dealwith conflict among family or friends or manage moreresponsibilities that come with growing up. Theoasked students to consider what their life held in thenear future and describe what they wanted toaccomplish between the end of junior high and highschool and even after high school.

During this poetry lesson, many of the students haddifficulty developing ideas about what they wanted towrite, which was not a typical response from students.Leon was one of the students that stared at a blankpage for a while and then asked assistance. When Theoasked Leon to think about how he was tested and whatthe future might hold for him, Leon was flippant andjokingly replied that his teachers ‘tested’ him becausethey kept contacting his father about his poor grades.Both Theo and Pamela were concerned with the lack ofresponse and reflection exhibited by the students andrealised that many students were challenged to thinkof goals related to selecting a high school, whether theywould work to graduate with a diploma and considerwhat lies beyond high school. An example was Juanwho tried to imagine what the world held for him andwrote:

‘‘Am I going to succeed?Be the person that everyone needs?To meet and greetOr am I going to be the one gettin’ beat?’’

Juan’s poem evoked images of a crossroads where hecould have either positive or negative outcomes; bothteachers were alerted to the idea that he did not seem



sure of what his future held. Even when pushed toconsider his future goals related to his occupation,schooling or employment, Leon, Juan and many of theother students were either resistant or unsure. In ajunior high school that fed into a high school wherealmost half of the students drop out, students’descriptions of their futures were a cause for concern.The poet and teacher both made efforts to be accessibleto students, provide information about high schoolsthat students could apply for which would have anacademic focus that might interest them or build a skillthat would help them with their future occupations,and also advise students about opportunities they mayhave overlooked. They also discussed their concernswith students, encouraging them to consider someoptions beyond eighth grade and continued withpoetry topics that related to future outcomes as wellas providing students with information about goalsetting and careers. Because of the nature of the poetryworkshop, the relationship between teachers andstudents was quite different; there was a personalcomponent that guided the poetry lessons. This is anexample of how allowing personal response throughpoetry can guide the teacher to supporting studentsoverall, extending beyond the specific grade objectivesto larger educational needs.

Conclusion and implications

Adrienne Rich (1979) describes poetry as ‘‘above all aconcentration of the power of language, which is thepower of our ultimate relationship to everything in theuniverse’’ (p. 248). Collaborating with a communitymember and tapping in to the powerful ways thatlanguage can be used to communicate led to importantclassroom learning opportunities for students in thisclassroom. Poetic devices such as rhyme, rhythm,similes and wordplay were utilised to enhance andsupport students’ own language practices and stu-dents used these sophisticated writing strategies asthey worked to convey their ideas, experiences andopinions. Vanessa’s passion was emphasised throughrepetition and complex word meanings, Philip andYolanda used comparisons to describe their feelings,and Leon’s and Juan’s descriptive writing (or lack ofwriting) pointed to emerging ideas that need furtherdevelopment. The poetry allowed for creative manip-ulation of emotional and social topics, while integrat-ing and expanding students’ language.

Creating spaces for critical thinking was a significantaspect of this poetry programme, which is particularlyimportant to adolescent students who feel that theschool curriculum is devoid of relevant information(Hull and Schultz, 2002). Using current events, familyexperiences and future aspirations, students were ableto question and consider multiple perspectives in theirpoetry. Topics that emerged from students’ poetrywriting provided students with opportunities to focus

on their strengths, question their understandings andcommunicate a desire for change. Responses to topicsalso demonstrated ideas that might need furtherdiscussion, scaffolding and reflection. The learningdynamic in this classroom, which allowed for inter-pretations and contributions from students as well ascommunity members, is an important aspect ofinclusive classrooms (Nieto, 2008). Having opportu-nities to consider and integrate relevant topics in asupportive climate is an important way to create athird space or hybrid places of learning in the class-room. Students support each other and are encouragedthrough the classroom teaching and learning as theybuild on their own literacy practices. Furthermore,important learning occurs for students to develop theirvoices as they question their experiences and considerdifferent perspectives through the creative and ex-pansive language of poetry.

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CONTACT THE AUTHORAngela Wiseman, College of Education – Elemen-tary Education, North Carolina State University,Campus Box 7801, Raleigh, NC 27695, USAe-mail: [email protected]



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powerful students, powerful words: writing and learning in a poetry workshop

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